Summer Fun

Start with clean, dry sand. Decide on some colors for you sand; you might try yellow, green, a bright color like red or pink. Get out a few Ziploc baggies, one for each color. Place the sand in the baggy with either a few drops of food coloring or a few drops of liquid watercolor. Shake well to mix. Lay the sand out on paper plates (or non-staining washable plates) and let dry.

Now you are ready to make your picture! You'll need your colored sand, white craft glue, and colored construction paper (you can mount it on scrap cardboard for strength). You many want to draw out a design or scene on the paper first, then go over it with the glue. Then sprinkle your colored sand onto the glue. Let dry and then shake off the extra sand.

For this craft you will need to cut out shapes of a seahorse or a starfish. (Click for patterns.) Now mix a little gold glitter with clean, dry sand and put it in a shaker bottle (an empty glitter shaker or an old, empty salt shaker will do). And lay out some old newspaper under the area will you will be making your art. Lay your paper shapes on top of the newspaper. Dribble white craft glue onto your seahorse and starfish shapes. You can make interesting designs with your glue or just smear it lightly all over. Now sprinkle the glitter sand onto the glue. Be sure to use plenty. Now shake off off the glitter sand that doesn't stick onto a paper plate or etc. You'll be able to pour it back into the shaker to reuse. Lay your creations out to dry. Later you can hang them up in the house for some nice summertime decorations!

This is a fun activity that you can do right at the beach! Or you can fill a plastic box (like a storage box or plastic dish tub) with sand. You will also need plaster of paris (available at the craft store), a small bucket and water (non-salty). Click for more directions.

You'll need a white paper plate, a tongue depressor or popsicle stick, glue, and markers, paints, or crayons. First, plan how you want your fan to look. You can leave it round, or you can cut it out to resemble a pokemon character, or cut out a shallow scalloped edge to resemble flower petals. Just remember, the more you cut off of it, the less stiffness it will have. If it gets too floppy it won't be a very good fan.

If you own a glue gun, this is the best way to attach your paper plate to the tongue depressor. Otherwise you'll need to use regular white craft glue to stick them together and allow plenty of time to dry. Now color it or paint it as desired. You can also use stickers and glue as well.

Next time you go for a walk, keep an eye out for smooth-textured rock for this project. Or... just go to the garden & hardware store and get a back of smooth river rocks. (Please don't collect rocks, or anything else, from nature preserves.) Wash and dry your rock. Then put on your art smock (or old, old clothes) and get out the acrylic paints. Hold your rock for a while an look it over. What kind of animal can you imagine it being? As you paint, try to follow the contours (or shape and bumps) of your rock. Maybe this bump over here looks like a arm or leg. Maybe another part looks like a nose. The best part is, don't worry if you "mess up". Just let the paint dry and try again later. You can always paint over your mistakes.

Another option is to try drawing on your rock with permanent markers, which now come in many colors.

Check out this craft for making animal shapes and sculptures out of homemade dough. You'll need baking powder and cornstarch plus paint and markers. Summer is a great time for this craft since they will air dry much faster in the hot summer air!

There are many different ways to do this project, but you should choose the one that is the most fun for you -- and the one that will make you'll like looking at in years to come. Here's some ideas for what to put in your book

Photos of places you went and people you met.
Journal entries about the things in your pictures, plus other important stuff that happened.
Cute scrapbook decoration stuff -- either made at home or purchased from a craft supplier, like Oriental Trading Company.

Stickers, brochures, maps, dried flowers or other things you collected on your vacation.
Drawings about your vacation.
Fun quotes or trivia about things that happened (For example: The number of times my brother said, "Are we there yet?" = 63)

To put your book together, you can either get a fancy, hardbound scrap book from the craft store, or... just make your own! If you're going to be adding 3-D objects, like photos and etc, then you will want to use heavy paper like construction paper. Figure out what order to put your pages in. Do you want to organize it by putting the events in order by date (like a journal or a story)? Or do you want to group things in categories, like: "Fun Outings", "Sports", Family Time", "Hanging Out", "Camping", etc.

Make foam lei "flower" necklaces, decorate yourself up with shell crafts, and make a mini beach scene.

You will need to start out with an already made hat or visor for this project. But with a glue gun (or some extra thick "Tacky" glue) and some decorations you choose, you can make a really cool personalized hat. First choose either a straw "bonnet" style hat (Wal-Mart usually has some cheaply) or a plastic visor (try Oriental Trading Company or Michael's, etc.). For a pretty feminine hat you can attach ribbon, silk or dried flowers, and maybe even a cute miniature teddy bear or a silk butterfly.

For a more manly or sporty look, decorate a visor with a selection of fun foam shape cutouts, available at the craft store.

You will need large white paper plates for this craft. Print and cut this pattern, and use it to trace out the sunflower shape on your paper plates. Then paint the paper plates with bright yellow tempra paint. Allow them to dry completely.

Now use white craft glue to stick sunflower seeds onto the center of the sunflowers. You can get plain raw seeds cheaply at most Pet/Farm Feed stores or in stores which carry seed for wild birds. Otherwise, use unsalted cooked seeds for this project.) If you like, you can attach "stems" cut from extra long green construction paper. Add a few leaves for extra fun. (You can probably get by with glue stick for this part, although craft glue will be sturdier.)

Sand castles and sand sculptures. This site will help you build 'em better. Tool tips and pics to inspire you.

Recycle an old tank top into a fun beach bag for carrying your suntan lotion, change of clothes, and whatever else.

This is the old version of sand candles, where you make a shape in the sand and then pour in the wax. Very fun!For this craft you'll need sand, paraffin wax (or old candle stubs), candle wicking, plus an empty 1-pound size coffee can, a large heat-proof mixing bowl, and a stick or think wooden dowel. Time required: about 1 hour.

In this version of the craft you layer colored sand in a jar and put a candle inside, hidden down in the sand.

This is another great craft that will dry faster in the hot summer air. You will need balloons, old newspapers, some masking tape, white craft glue, and some flour and water. You'll also need paint and markers to decorate. Click the link above for the recipe and for complete directions.

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